CD REVIEWS

Frozen Crown - Crowned In Frost
Album Review By Rainer Kerber
With a bang, Frozen Crown stepped into the spotlight of Heavy Metal a year ago. With their debut album "The Fallen King" the Milanese literally blew me away. What kind of elemental force was that? One and a half million Youtube

Tigersclaw - Force Of Destiny
Album Review By Rainer Kerber
Tigersclaw is the baby of multi-instrumentalist Alexander Baier. He composes, arranges and produces all songs. He gets musical support from his longtime companion Ralf Neumann, who plays the drums parts. Third in the league is the opera singer Elena Minina. Since Elena

Whitechapel ‘The Valley’
Album Review By Adam McCann
Metal Blade Records/Deathcore
Whitechapel needed to do something; their 2016 album ‘Mark Of The Blade’ had missed its target and its musical departure from earlier themes left both critics and fans confused and uncertain. Therefore, there was high hopes from the latest Whitechapel album ‘The

Allegaeon ‘Apoptosis’
Album Review By Adam McCann
Metal Blade Records/Technical Melodic Death Metal
Since the band delivered their debut album almost a decade ago, Allegaeon have pushed from strength to strength, forming their own niche within the boundaries of technical melodic death metal and hitting a pinnacle with their superb 2016 album ‘Proponent

Battle Beast ‘No More Hollywood Endings’
Album Review By Adam McCann
Nuclear Blast Records/Power Metal
Finnish power metal band Battle Beast have the innate ability to do a few things, one is to get the foot tapping along with their music, two is add a feel good party fervour to this music and

Megadeth ‘Warheads On Foreheads’
Album Review By Adam McCann
Universal Music Group/Thrash/Heavy Metal
The announcement that Megadeth are to release their latest greatest hits compilation ‘Warheads On Foreheads’ begs the question does the world need another Megadeth greatest hits album? After all, this band already has the likes of ‘Capitol Punishment’, ‘Back To

Týr ‘Hel’
Album Review By Adam McCann
Metal Blade Records/Folk/Metal
There are few bands as instantly recognisable as Týr, their sound is a perfect blend of heavy metal and folk vocal melodies which beautifully encapsulate the mythology of the Faroese and Icelandic skáld. Yet for Týr, it has been quite awhile since the

Tesla ‘Shock’
Album Review By Adam McCann
Tesla Electric Recording Company/Hard Rock
It has been more than a few years since Tesla released their previous album ‘Simplicity’ back in 2014 and in that time, the band have celebrated the 30th anniversary of their seminal album ‘Mechanical Resonance’ coinciding with the release of a

Spirits Of Fire ‘Spirits Of Fire’
Album Review By Adam McCann
Frontiers Records/Heavy/Power Metal
To begin, there are two burning questions; the first being this, is Tim ‘Ripper’ Owens the busiest man in metal? And does the world need another band with Ripper Owens singing? Because of this, it is very difficult to

Iron Fire ‘Beyond The Void’
Album Review By Adam McCann
Crime Records/Power Metal
For the past year, Iron Fire have been busy celebrating their 20th anniversary in style by releasing a double disc of rarities, B-sides and live tracks that made hardcore fans of the Danish metal band drool with excitement. As the

Bloodbound ‘Rise Of The Dragon Empire’
Album Review By Adam McCann
AFM Records/Power Metal
Bloodbound have always left a trail of outstanding albums in their wake, their last album ‘War Of Dragons’ was no exception and although throughout their career, the band have consistently struggled to retain a stable line-up, this has somehow

Children Of Bodom ‘Hexed’
Album Review By Adam McCann
Nuclear Blast Records/Melodic Death Metal
It’s been a long four years since Children of Bodom (CoB) released their last album ‘I Worship Chaos’ and whilst the band still play their distinctive form of melodic death metal, ‘I Worship Chaos’ showed the band incorporating elements

Last In Line ‘II’
Album Review By Adam McCann
Frontiers Records/2019/Hard Rock/Heavy Metal
Last In Line are the band which began life as a collective which celebrated the life and career of Ronnie James Dio. The band of former Dio members soon outgrew their tribute band roots and released their debut album ‘Heavy

Walls Of Blood ‘Imperium’
Album Review By Adam McCann
Metalville Records/2019/Heavy Metal
It has never been uncommon within the heavy metal world for musicians to guest upon each other’s work. More recently, whole bands such as Avantasia and Metal Allegiance have sprung up featuring a rotating carousel of musicians that make each song

Ibridoma ‘City Of Ruins’
Album Review By Adam McCann
Punishment 18 Records/2019/Heavy Metal
The Italian metal band Ibridoma formed in 2001 and since their inception, they have consistently released a steady stream of albums to a warm reception and last year, Ibridoma quietly managed to sneak out their fifth studio album ‘City Of

Kamion ‘Gain’
Album Review By Adam McCann
Independent Release/2019/Heavy Metal
Kamion reformed in 2017 and since then, they have begun to plough their way into the heavy metal world releasing their debut album ‘Gain’ last year. But, the question is, does ‘Gain’ give a perfect example of who Kamion are?
The answer remains ambiguous,

Candlemass ‘The Door To Doom’
Album Review By Adam McCann
Napalm Records/2019/Doom Metal
It promised so much when Candlemass released the EP ‘Death Thy Lover’ back in 2016; but then, the Doomfather Leif Edling suddenly formed The Doomsday Kingdom which made the doom metal community wonder whether or not it’s long awaited Candlemass

Coheed and Cambria: An Amazing Gift
by
Monica Redwine
My husband got me the most amazing gift earlier this year: tickets to go see Coheed and Cambria, along with the Meet and Greet package. I was SOOOO excited! He didn’t even tell me he was planning to buy them—he messaged me while I

Omicida's ‘Defrauded Reign’
Independent Release
Thrash Metal
Following on from their excellent EP ‘Certain Death’ in 2015, expectations were high for Omicida and their debut album ‘Defrauded Reign’ certainly does not disappoint; Omicida have rammed it full on with an old-school thrash vibe that is right out of 1988.
There was no doubt that ‘Defrauded

Nightrage ‘Wolf To Man’
Despotz Records
Melodic Death Metal
It has been two years since Nightrage released ‘The Venomous’ their last studio album and after extensive touring the band are finally back with their latest and anticipated album ‘Wolf To Man’.
As expected, Nightrage do not break away from the mold already laid down by